OFC is the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (yes, some initials got lost in the acronym...it used to be just the Optical Fiber Conference). It is in San Diego from 3rd to 7th March, for the conference, and from 5th to 7th March, for the exhibition. Cadence will be there in booth 5437.

History

Somewhat surprisingly, this is the 42nd OFC. It started in 1975. The numbers don't quite work because for the first few years it was only held every two years before it became an annual event. If you want to see what everyone was talking about in 1975, then be my guest. Glancing over the titles, it seemed to be much more focused on making and splicing optical fibers than on the end equipment to transmit and receive the light. Remember, in 1975, there were about 4,000 transistors on a chip. The 6502 was introduced that year (a variant powered the Apple II in 1977).

I just looked up to see when the semiconductor laser was invented and got a surprise. Cribbing from Wikipedia:

As early as 1953 John von Neumann described the concept of semiconductor laser in an unpublished manuscript. In 1957, Japanese engineer Jun-ichi Nishizawa filed a patent for the first semiconductor laser.

Yes, that is the von Neumann of von Neumann computer architecture fame, and generally regarded as one of the smartest people ever. If I'd have to guess, I'd have thought twenty years later than these dates.

Keynotes

In keeping with my 2019 rule that all conferences on any topic need to cover 5G, deep learning, and autonomous vehicles, the keynotes in the plenary session are:

• Alex Jinsung Choi, SVP Strategy & Technology Innovation at Deutsche Telekom, Towards Open Innovation in 5G.
• Dmitri Dolgov, CTO of Waymo, From Self-driving Cars to a Vision for Future Mobility. [note: Waymo is what you might think of as Google's self-driving car project]
• Benny P. Mikkelsen, CTO of Acacia Communications, Tackling Capacity and Density Challenges by Electro-photonic Integration.

Well, that's 2 out of 3, with only deep learning missing. The plenary session is Tuesday, March 5th from 8-10am.

There are also a series of invited presentations divided into 3 tracks: D, S, and N:

• D: Devices, Optical Components, and Fiber.
• S: Systems and Subsystems.
• N: Networks, Applications, and Access.

Cadence

Cadence will be focused on high-speed SerDes and on silicon photonics. 

On the SerDes front, we will be showing our 112Gbps PAM4 SerDes that we announced late last year. For more details, see my post The World's First Working 7nm 112G Long Reach SerDes Silicon. Also, look for a post coming up soon on modeling and simulating 112Gbps SerDes—it's one thing to put the IP on a chip but you have to design the rest of the packages and boards too. The picture on the right shows it working at the recent DesignCon.

On the silicon photonics front, we will be showing layout implementation using the new Virtuoso CurvyCore technology, which allows you to create the complex curvilinear shapes necessary for on-chip waveguides (light really doesn't like to go around sharp corners). See below for some layout.

We will also be showing our integrated electronic/photonic design automation (EPDA) built upon Virtuoso (with Lumerical's optical simulation technology seamlessly integrated under the hood).

For my most recent posts on silicon photonics, see:

• Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights...and Photonics, the Silicon Festival of Light
• Yoga is Passé, the Future Is CurvyCore
• All the Ps: the Photonics PDK Panel

More Information

You can look at the OFC conference website. Or download the 36-page technical conference brochure (pdf). Cadence will be at booth 5437.

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